Home Sweet Home
by quincunx
Summary: Orihime tries to build a home for herself. What's a home without a family?
1. Tinked

Diclaimer: I do not own _Bleach._ Please don't sue me. If you possess the copyright, just have your legal representative send me a C&D and this will be gone before you can say "intellectual property."

Summary: Orihime and her landlady have a little "chat"

Characters: Orihime

Warnings: It's gen (at least for now), and there's no, _you know_, funny business or drugs or violence. It's just setting everything up. However, this is an AU of sorts. Set after the events of the Soul Society arc. For now, just assume that what happens as soon as they get back don't happen. It won't be that big of a deal, I promise.

_Home, Sweet Home_

Prologue: Tinked

Being summoned to see the she-wolf was never a good thing. She dwelled in her lair, using her color-coded slips of paper to hunt down her prey. Which was kind of odd, if you thought about it, because weren't wolves supposed to be out and active and in a pack? Maybe she was more of a spider. Yes, a spider. With all venom and eyes and dripping oozing death.

"Miss Inoue?"

The papers were just her way of notifying you that you were being moved up the docket to today's tasty meal, like some kind of evil auctioneer.

Going once. "Miss Inoue," Going Twice, "are you paying attention to me?" Going three times . . .

"SOLD!" she shouted, making the landlady jump.

"Miss Inoue, did you hear a word I just said?" She looked annoyed.

Orihime had the presence of mind to blush. "I'm sorry. I must have been lost in my thoughts. Did I do something wrong?"

The landlady smiled really big. Her wolf grin. No, she's a spider. Do spiders grin? Probably not. They don't even have mouths.

"Well, as I was saying, your lease is up in a few days, and I'm afraid I won't be renewing it."

"What? Why not? Did I do something wrong? If I did, I'm so sorry."

"Oh no, nothing of the sort. I'm re-tooling this building for young professionals, that's all. You don't really fit that image."

"But ma'am, I am a professional."

"I'm sure you are, sweetheart."

"Ma'am, I am. I'm a professional highschool student."

"I mean doctors, lawyers, and teachers. That sort of thing."

Oh. "Well, I know what I want to be. It's very professional."

"What's that?"

"When I grow up, I want to be the finest robot fighter there is."

The landlady did not seem impressed by this revelation. Her lips formed a thin line, "I'm afraid I'm going to have to evict you, miss. So, please pack your belongings. Your lease expires at the end of the week. I'm sorry, I've been trying to get into contact with you. I've been putting out slips for the last month."

She didn't seem very sorry. "Well, okay. I'll be gone by then. One thing, though."

"Yes?"

"Where am I supposed to live?"

"Well, there are some nice buildings around here, but most of them are too big for one person. Maybe if you got a roommate or two, you could afford them."

"Yeah! Or a cat."

"I think you'd best stick to human roommates. Good luck to you."

She didn't seem too sorry, though. Maybe it's the wolf in her. Makes her ruthless. Or the spider. All calculating. Maybe she's an octopus. Those are pretty cold at times, but also shy. "Goodbye."

So. Roommates, eh? Maybe we could live in the school at night, and just not pay rent at all. It would probably get uncomfortable, though. Where would I put my clothes? Okay. Roommates it is. Just have to find some people who wouldn't mind living with me.

End Prologue

A/N: Writing as Orihime is very challenging. I'm glad most of this story isn't in her head. Chapter one will reveal her first choice.


	2. A Common Thread

Diclaimer: I do not own _Bleach._ Please don't sue me. If you possess the copyright, just have your legal representative send me a C&D and this will be gone before you can say "intellectual property."

Summary: Orihime tries out the prospect of a new roommate.

Characters: Ishida, Orihime

Warnings/Author's Note: Nothing of note.

_Home, Sweet Home_

Part One: A Common Thread

He regarded it critically. The seams were so old that the stuffing was practically coming out of it in several places, and one of its eyes was missing. This one was going to be a difficult fix, at least from a certain perspective. Nothing was too hard with sufficient concentration. Unfortunately, someone was doing her best to distract him.

With a resigned sigh, he put down the stuffed animal. No point in botching the job because he was trying to do two things at once.

"I said, 'do you have a broom?' I think that maybe you were not listening to me, Ishida."

"Sorry, Orihime. I was distracted. Why do you want my broom?"

"Well, if you don't have one, we'll have to buy one, and I don't know where they sell train tickets around here."

While it would be easier to just ignore this little detour from logical thought, the perverse impulse to see it through won out. "Train tickets?"

"Yes, to get to the broom town. Maybe, when we get there, there will be a young broom looking for work, and we can take him home with us, and name him Yukaburashi and then he will meet a beautiful mop named Yukahechima, and they will fall in love and get married and finally end the famous cleaning tool feud that started centuries ago."

"Uh, Orihime–" he began, but the entire monologue was so illogically snarled that he couldn't choose one thread to start with. "That won't be necessary. I have a broom. What do you need it for, exactly?"

"Well, it's good that one of us has a broom. It would be good to keep our apartment clean, wouldn't it?"

"Yes, it is good to keep apartmen– wait," it was becoming increasingly obvious that he didn't listen while sewing. "You mean an apartment that we share?"

"That's what I've been talking about since I came in. Were you not listening to me, Ishida?"

"We don't share an apartment, Orihime."

She looked at him like he was crazy. "Not yet, Ishida. That's the whole point. But we will. Hang on, you didn't answer my question. Don't try to squirrel your way out of it."

Trying his best to evade admitting to the gaffe, he stalled: "I think you mean 'weasel' my way out of it."

She looked resigned for a second, but then her eyes narrowed. "I think you avoiding the question, Ishida."

The feeling of Orihime being angry at him, at anyone, was a new and unwelcome one. He stammered out the first objection he could think of: "Well, what would your parents say about it? Will they keep paying rent if they know your roommate is a boy?"

"My parents are not in my life, Ishida, and my older brother died a few years ago. I pay my own rent. So you see, it would be helpful to have a roommate."

"Oh." What were you supposed to say to something like that? "I see. Well, I doubt my wonderfully involved father would care one way or the other, so he'll keep paying my part of the rent. Do you have a place in mind, Orihime?"

"Well, I have found a few places, actually, but I was thinking we could live in a tree-house."

"A tree-house?"

"Yes, a tree-house. We could live in it with monkeys, and make our living from feeding them bananas as people on the street watched. Then, when we had enough money, we could buy a circus and–"

He knew to interrupt this time. "I am sorry to tell you this, but I would much prefer to live in an apartment."

Her face fell. "Oh. Well, the only place I found that is nice is too big for just two people. Do you think there are more people who could live with us, Ishida?"

"I'm sure there are, it's just a matter of asking around. A fair number of people here live in apartments so that they can live in this school district, and a bigger apartment is a tempting proposition. We can try and find some roommates, for sure."

Her eyes shone. "Oh, this sounds like such a good idea! It will be so fun to live like a family."

For him, a family evoked a net: it could catch you when you fell, but also keep you back, ensnare you, tie you down. He landed on his feet, so a net seemed more constraining than supportive. Taking in her excited chatter, though, he couldn't help but feel that maybe there was more to it than that. After all, if there was one thing sewing had taught him, it was that is nothing regal made of only one thread: it had to be woven, or braided, or sewn together, and only by standing together could individual threads became something truly beautiful, or functional, or breath-taking. And so, with all of this in his mind, he said, "Maybe you're right. It could be good to live like a family."

End Part One

A/N: This is the first story that I ever had an idea for, and it came just after the Orihime arc, where a lot of her backstory is revealed. I waited for more episodes to pass, until I felt I knew enough about the characters to write, but I have not seen everything there is to see, so this could well violate canon unknowingly. Well, besides the whole "Orihime never asks Ishida to move in with her" bit, but that probably goes without saying.

Oh, and far be it from me to use Japanese without reason. I tried writing with the honorifics, and I just couldn't deal with it. I'm defending her right to call him "Ishida" while he calls her "Orihime;" guys often go by their last names, but that's pretty rare for girls.

For the record, "yukaburashi"is literally Japanese for floor-brush, and "yukahechima" means floor-sponge. My friend informs me that some people use "yukaburashi" for broom, but I can neither confirm nor deny that fact. "Yukahechima," is not, to my knowledge, a real word. Don't use it. In fact, don't use either of them. Just stop right now, before someone loses an eye.

Constructive criticism is, of course, welcome. Otherwise, I wouldn't be posting this publicly.


End file.
